The present invention pertains to a safety indicator for warning motorists when water over a low water crossing or other road is unsafe for crossing by the motorists. More particularly, the present invention relates to a solar-powered flashing signal which is activated by water rising within a hollow support post, the post being provided with apertures at pre-determined levels for permitting communication of water with the hollow space of the post wherein means for controlling the signal are located.
Water over the roadway can and often does present a perilous trap to motorists. When floodwaters cover a road, particles in the water and other factors typically prevent a motorist from seeing the road surface beneath the water, and a motorist can easily be deceived as to the depth of the water. What may appear as an inconspicuous puddle of standing water on the road may actually turn out to be a five foot dip filled with water in a flood plain. The ramifications to a deceived motorist range from inconvenience to death, and such dangers are increasingly critical with increasing flow rates of the water. For instance, a small creek overflowing three feet above a low water crossing may present force enough to sweep a school bus into and down the creek. Although such dangers are not new, the hazards persist. Despite the almost everpresent graduated flood gauge adjacent low water crossings, such warnings time and again go unnoticed and, even when the flood gauges are noticed, motorists too often find their vehicles overwhelmed by the power that a few inches of swiftly flowing water has.
As it has heretofore been, in order to adequately protect the public from such hazards, authorities must barricade low water crossings when conditions become too dangerous. This requires adequate barricades, frequent monitorings of the crossings and, consequently, added costs for the authorities.
Therefore, the present inventor has endeavored to provide a safety indicator which will automatically signal danger either from what has been determined as an excessive depth of standing water over a road, or similar danger from an excessive rate of flow of water over the road as is frequently observed in flash-flooding. It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a simple warning device for signalling when water over the roadway, regardless whether standing or flowing, is too dangerous for motorists. Another object of the present invention is to achieve the other objects while successfully coping with solids and debris suspended in the water.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a low-water crossing warning device which can be easily installed in existing hollow support pipe signposts of the kind commonly available and in use for warning signs.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a low water crossing warning device that is highly visible at any hour of the day or night, despite any inclement weather conditions, and yet which requires no external power source, as such power sources might be cut of during a flood or violent storm.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a low water crossing warming device, the activation of which is dependent upon the water level, the water velocity and combinations of those factors, which warning device can be set to be activated at pre-determined standing water height or a predetermined flowing water height.
It is also an object of the present invention to ensure reliability by providing back-up control means for controlling a low water crossing warning device where primary controlling means present the possibility of failure.
Those and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be made apparent to those skilled in the art who have the benefit of the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention.